The Green Party - A real committment to peace

 (Picture taken from www.stopwar.org.uk)

It is with dismay, but not surprise that the 3 main parties have little to offer when it comes to our defence policy.  Labour, Conservative and Lib Dems are all committed to keeping our troops in Afghanistan, even though there is no sign of end to the war.  In fact, by the end of the year we will have been in longer than the Soviet Union, who could not take control of the country with a much larger force than we have committed.

The Green Party offers a real alternative with a commitment to remove our troops from Afghanistan, as it is now absolutely clear that our security has been compromised, not improved, by our part in the counter-productive invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan.

On nuclear weapons Labour and the Tories are committed to renewing Trident.  The Lib Dems have said they will cancel it but keep a minimum nuclear deterrent.  The Green Party would not only scrap Trident but would decommission the existing system and not renew it.

So the choice is clear.  If you want to commit our country to a secure and peaceful future vote Green.

Could the Icelandic ash cloud highlight the problems with globalization?

UK aircraft and those from many other countries have been grounded since Thursday due to the ash cloud being formed from the eruption of the Iceland volcano Eyjafjallajökull which is drifting across Europe.

The crisis could be over in days, but there is no certainty that this will be the case, and the disruption could spill over into weeks or months.

At the moment most of the media attention is on holiday makers who are stranded.  But now stories have started to appear about the piles of rotting produce in Africa which cannot be imported while planes are grounded.  As reported on the BBC News site:

One of the UK's biggest fresh fruit importers said business had ground to a halt because of the disruption.
Anthony Pile, chairman of Blue Skies, said the company was losing £100,00 a day as produce was rotting in Brazil and Africa.

"Losing a day is a disaster, losing three days is unbelievable and I don't know what we're going to do if we go into the middle of next week," he said.

Transporting food across the world is completely unsustainable and it is time we started to completely re-evaluate our dependence on food from outside the country and moved back to local food production.

May be a natural occurrence like this is just what we need to highlight the failings of our current system.

Yorkshire & Humberside Green Party stand 20 candidates in the region

 

 

Yorkshire & Humberside Green Party are standing 20 candidates in the region.  For a full list of candidates visit http://yorkshireandhumber.greenparty.org.uk/region/yorkshireandhumber/people.html

If you live in the York area please consider coming to help Andy Chase's campaign for York Central.  You can also join the Facebook fan page here.

Tories inflicting their moral standards through the taxation system

The Tories have now outlined their tax plans, to give married couple and those in civil partnerships a tax break of around £150 a year.  The first thing I noticed about this was the late addition of civil partnerships, presumably added to try and take some heat of the Chris Grayling incident.

As the BBC website says:

It would apply to basic rate taxpayers earning under £44,000 where one partner does not use their full personal tax-free income allowance.

Is this supposed to act as an incentive for one spouse to stay at home?

Do the Tories really think such a trivial amount will encourage couples to marry or not to divorce?

The proposed tax is unfair for a whole host of reasons.  It discriminates against unmarried couples and single people for no just reason.  Single people often struggle much more financially as they have pay a mortgage and bills on one income, and as a result of this measure they will also be expected to pay more tax than married couples.

You would have thought the Tories would have learnt by now not to impose their moral standards upon the public.  Particularly as it back-fired so badly against them with their Back to Basics campaign in the 90s.

They are funding this scheme by a new levy on the banks.  Surely any income brought in should be used to reduce our national debt or protect public services.  Instead any savings or new sources of income the Tories are highlighting are being used to offer tax incentives to win votes.

Tories fail on LGBT equality

Today's article in the Observer came as no surprise to me.  Shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling was recorded as saying:

"I think we need to allow people to have their own consciences," he said. "I personally always took the view that, if you look at the case of should a Christian hotel owner have the right to exclude a gay couple from a hotel, I took the view that if it's a question of somebody who's doing a B&B in their own home, that individual should have the right to decide who does and who doesn't come into their own home."

Supporting such behaviour is unacceptable. B & B owners who display such hostility to gay couples are no better than those who used to display signs saying "No Blacks, No Dogs, No Irish".  This sort of behaviour no longer happens and is universally condemned as well as illegal.  It is also illegal to refuse a room to gay couples and should be seen as just as unacceptable.

Everybody has the right to their opinions, regardless of how abhorrent we find them.  What they don't have a right to do is to offer a selective service to the public based on their beliefs.  If people hold homophobic beliefs they are clearly not suitable candidates for running a bed and breakfast.

This latest episode is just the latest in a series of blunders on LGBT rights by the Tories, most recent being the interview Cameron did with the Gay Times which showed a shocking lack of ignorance about what his colleagues were up to in the European parliament re LGBT rights.  When he showed that he was unaware that Conservative MEPs refused to support a motion which condemned a new homophobic law in Lithuania.

The Tory voting record on LGBT rights also proves interesting reading.  The vote on the Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2007 was only supported by 29 Conservative MPs . The following members of the shadow cabinet voted against the bill:

Kenneth Clarke
Mark Francois
Dominic Grieve
Erik Pickles
George Young

Many more members of the party were conspicious by their absence with a Conservative turnout of 58.2%

Please consider signing up for the National Organ Donor Register

A recent article in my local paper reminded me of the great need there still is for people to sign up to the national organ donor register.

As their website says:

If you believe in organ donation, prove it

Would you take an organ if you needed one? Nearly everyone would. But only 28% of us have joined the Organ Donor Register.
More than 10,000 people in the UK currently need a transplant. Of these, 1000 each year – that's three a day - will die waiting as there are not enough organs available.

My personal view is that the current system should be changed to an opt-out system.  I can understand how some people have cultural or religious reasons for not wanting to be on the register, and an opt-out system would accommodate them.  Having such a system would no doubt increase the amount of available donors.

After all, most of us, if we were ill would like to think that we would not have to wait a long period of time for a donor.  And if we rely on this system we should also be willing to contribute to it.

Tory panic sets in as they offer tax breaks to woo voters

The drop in the opinion polls has obviously panicked Tory HQ into going back to the old chestnut of offering lower taxes.

They are doing this by offering to scrap the NI increase for those earning under £45,500.  But surely this is irresponsible foolishness, considering the monumental national debt we are facing.

They claim they can save money from efficiency savings.  They are using the old right wing tabloid myth that the public services waste money and are over staffed.    This is not the case and the cuts they propose will no doubt have a negative effect on public services.  It is not possible to keep cutting funding and not see a reduction in quality from services.

What we will see is a return to the under funded public services we saw in the 1980s and early 1990s under the Conservatives.

I for one would rather pay a bit of extra NI if it helps maintain public services at their current levels.  We are already seeing the effects of funding cuts to Higher Education, with wide spread redundancies and reduced student places.  To go even further with cuts is simply irresponsible.

The only cuts I would welcome would be to the defence budget by scrapping the Trident replacement and leaving Afghanistan, but it is unlikely these areas will be touched.

Support for Green policies

I have just come across an excellent website called Vote for Policies.  The idea of the site is that it shows you policies from 6 parties and you pick which policy you prefer without seeing the party name. 

The questionnaire covers the following policy strands:

• Crime
• Democracy
• Economy
• Education
• Environment
• Europe
• Health/NHS
• Immigration
• Welfare

After you have chosen your preferred policies the site will tell you which party best matches your viewpoint.

So far 6049 users have taken the test, and the results are as follows:

BNP - 11.19%
Conservatives - 13.5%
Green Party - 30.34%
Labour - 16.64%
Lib Dems - 17.61%
UKIP - 10.72%

As you see the Green Party policies win by quite a large margin.

I would encourage you to promote this poll on Twitter/Facebook etc.  I feel a lot of people will be surprised after taking the test, not realising how much they have in common with Green policies.  It will also show voters that we have strong policies in all areas, not just environmental issues.

Why I'm voting Labour in York Outer

Many of you will be surprised to read that I have decided to support Labour in the forthcoming general election.  Unfortunately the Green Party are not standing in York Outer which has meant I have had to think carefully about where to place my vote.

I loyally voted Labour for the first 7 years of my voting life, but after the Iraq war I no longer felt I could support Labour and have not voted Labour for the past 9 years.  Even though I have a good MP in John Grogan I could not bring myself to vote for a party led by Tony Blair who I still feel should stand trial for war crimes and breaking international law.

In 2005 I ended voting Liberal Democrat, this is not an action I intend to repeat.  Since Charles Kennedy was ditched they have continued to move to the right.  So much now that we see Nick Clegg praising Thatcher and not ruling out helping a minority Tory governement.  I refuse to vote for a party which may end up propping up the Tories.

Despite the airbrushing and token statements on the environment and gay rights they have not changed.  I could write pages on why I would not vote Tory, but here are just a few reasons:

1. They wish to overturn the fox hunting ban.  This alone I feel is reason enough not to vote for them.
2. They still wish to impose their moralistic values on the country.  Two examples are their wish to give tax breaks to married couples and today's announcement by the shadow minister for children that he would like to criminalize under 16s for having consensual sex.
3. Leading members of the Tory party do not believe in man made climate change.
4. Even though we are facing cuts to the public sector in Labour, it looks like the cuts proposed by the Tories will come in sooner and be more severe.  I cannot see how firing large amounts of public sector employees will help the economy during a recession.
5. They wish to remove Britain as a signatory to the Human Rights Act
6. They are vehemently anti-union.  Cameron called on the PM to urge BA staff to cross picket lines during PMQs
7. They are members of the European Conservatives and Reformists group.  A group alleged to contain anti-semites and homophobes. (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/gay-tory-daves-embarrassing-friends-1769707.html)

So why Labour?  Gordon Brown has to accept some responsibility for the Iraq war and we are still in a pointless war in Afghanistan.  But Labour have done good, which should be acknowledged, including:

1. Drastically cutting NHS waiting lists.
2. Fox hunting ban.
3. Implementing the minimum wage.
4. Human Rights Act
5. Freedom of Information Act
6. Scrapping section 28 and improving rights for the LGBT community.

Many people do come up with the old adage 'they are all the same' and say they will simply not vote or spoil their ballot papers.  I argue that they are not, and the thought of the return of a Tory government fills me with dread.

I therefore hope that fellow Green Party supporters will go out and vote for James Alexander for Labour in York Outer.

And, if you are lucky enough to live in York Central, please support and vote for Andy Chase for the Green Party.

The BBC, putting quality first?

In Mark Thompson's blog he states:

Today I'm going to set out the conclusions of a piece of strategic thinking we've done over the past few months. We're calling it 'Putting quality first'.

I immediately have a problem with this title.  Thompson is proposing axing quality stations BBC 6 Music and the Asian Network, which offer a service not found elsewhere on radio.  At the same time BBC 3 remains untouched, a station which offers us such gems as:

• Snog, Marry Avoid? 
• Hotter Than My Daughter 
• The Undercover Princesses 
• From WAGS to Riches 
• Freaky Eaters
• Addicted to Boob Jobs 

I could go on, but you get the idea.  You can see a full list of the trite offered at http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcthree/programmes/a-z/by/a/all

The BBC meets its public service mandate by offering the forementioned radio stations, but not by BBC 3, which offers the same sort of programmes available on numerous digital channels.

Please send your feedback about the proposed closures to srconsultation@bbc.co.uk or fill in the questionnaire at  http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/consultations/departments/bbc/bbc-strategy-review/consultation/consult_view

Please join the Facebook group in support of BBC 6 music at http://www.facebook.com/home.php?src=fftb#!/group.php?gid=278123313911&ref=ts

Sign the petition at http://www.petition.fm/petitions/6musicasiannet/

And if Tweeting use the hash tag #savebbc6music

Please also fax your MP asking them to sign EDM 963 calling for 6 music and the Asian Network to be saved.

Tory Charlotte Vere attacks Marcus Brigstocke for performing at Green fundraiser

An argument has broken out on Twitter after Brighton Pavillion Conservative candidate Charlotte Vere (@CharlotteV) posted the following Tweet:

Fundraisers support Greens because they are not BNP?! I will be writing to the BBC about this. http://bit.ly/9Mk2HE

As Marucs (@marcusbrig) points out:

It's all so complicated and inevitably political. The idea was to help make sure there are funds enough for The Greens to have a fair chance

Charlotte picks her story up from the right wing, paranoid Biased BBC site which is obsessed with the idea that the BBC is run by a liberal left wing cabal.

On a day when it is revealed that Tory deputy-chair and donor Lord Ashcroft is a non-dom, it is a bit rich of the Tories to be attacking performers for helping out a party which does not have the benefit of millionaire donors to help it out.

Still the nasty party

I spotted an article on Socialist Unity alerting me to the following hideous Tory leaflet on Conservative Home  It is the kind of material I would expect from the BNP, not a major political party. 

 

You can read the front of the leaflet here and the back here  

This leaflet plays to ignorance, racism and hatred.  The Tories deserve to lose the election on this one act alone.

.

Vote Andy Chase for York Central

Andy Chase will be the Green Party candidate for York Central. I have a great amount of respect for Andy who has been a committed local campaigner for many years. He has been involed in many local campaigns includin:

* He was involved in the successful campaign to prevent automatic ticket barriers being installed at York station.
* He spoke at the public inquiry against the "Coppergate II" scheme against building a shopping mall around Clifford's Tower and was a member of the local campaign group;
* He has campaigned for greater social justice, for example calling on the government to reverse the "10p tax" hike against the low paid;
* He has taken action to support local facilities, such as community halls, in his local area;
* He has been involved in local residents' groups for many years;
* He opposed the war in Iraq and has protested against the programme to replace the Trident nuclear weapons system, which will cost £75bn, more than the annual budget of the NHS;
* He has been active on planning issues, opposing the demolition of Victorian buildings in the city for yet more flats, and commenting on important planning documents for the city's future development;
* He opposed the closure of post offices in the city and collected petition signatures door-to-door. Micklegate Post Office was eventually saved - one of only two offices reprieved from closure in North Yorkshire;
* He has campaigned and organized meetings on sustainable transport, and wants to see the city transformed into a green, pleasant space where people can walk and cycle in safety, with clean, efficient public transport and the city's heritage enhanced. He actively opposes the dualling of York's northern Outer Ring Road;
* He spoke out over the original plans for the Terry's site, rejected by the city's planning committee in 2007, because of concerns about overdevelopment and traffic.

Andy's full biog can be found at http://york.greenparty.org.uk/achasebiog.php

Please also visit Andy's blog at http://viewfromthecastlegreen.blogspot.com/

If you can help with the campaign please contact the local party through our website at http://york.greenparty.org.uk

Save BBC 6 music

I was mortified when I read the story in the Times on Thursday reporting that the BBC are planning to axe BBC 6 Music and the Asian Network.

The NUJ confirmed the story on their website:

Jeremy Dear and Gerry Morrissey, general secretaries of the National Union of Journalists and BECTU respectively, received a detailed briefing from Lucy Adams, director BBC People, this morning, confirming media reports as largely correct.

BBC 6 music fills a gap in the market, which no other station covers. It is for those of use who find the music and presenting of Radio 1 to be too immature and that of Radio 2 to be aimed at the older listener.

The station gives us such fine talent as Adam and Joe and Collins and Herring, which I religiously listen to every Saturday morning.

Please join the Facebook group in support of BBC 6 music at http://www.facebook.com/home.php?src=fftb#!/group.php?gid=278123313911&ref=ts

Sign the petition at http://www.petition.fm/petitions/6musicasiannet/

And if Tweeting use the hash tag #savebbc6music

If the BBC need to save money they need to start looking at some of the ludicrous salaries paid to its top presenters.

Lib Dems cannot draw graphs

I received the latest version of the Lib Dem focus magazine in the post and found this rather interesting graph:



[Taken from http://www.madeleinekirk.org.uk/]

I put these figures into Open Office and came up with a rather different looking graph:



Although the correct figures are shown on the graph it has been manipulated to give the impression that the Labour vote is only half the level of the other 2 parties standing.

They are bound to play the same trick in areas where the Greens are standing, so the moral of the story is to look at the graphics they are putting out and call them to account when the data is misrepresented.